OUT at CHM | Our Bars: Community, Safety, Violence, Sex, and Activism

How have bars helped to shape Chicago’s LGBTQ community?

Bars and clubs have long been gathering places where people found like-minded companionship and social circles. This was particularly the case as LGBTQ communities coalesced in Chicago. Author and historian Owen Keehnen moderates a panel to include community activists and bar owners Art Johnston (Sidetrack) and Marge Summit (His ‘n Hers) to discuss how a movement developed out of a few watering holes. The panel will discuss how bars in Chicago, since the 1950s and earlier, have been places of community and safety, sometimes broken by police violence, and often determined by politics of gender and race.

Major support for Out at CHM comes from the Exelon Corporation with additional support from Robert Kohl and Clark Pellett and the Richard L. Ohlhausen Education Fund.